Razer took some time during CES 2012 to show off the latest prototype of their Project Fiona tablet.

This tablet runs on an Intel Core i7, and is essentially a higher end laptop. Combine the underlying Windows 7 OS and add accelerometers and a touch screen to the already obvious controller rig around the main screen and you have a system with more potential inputs than a comparable tablet or laptop. Razer boasts that Project Fiona offers “the most immersive gaming experience on a tablet.”

Newest on iLuv’s list is its WorkStation Series, a lineup of combined docking stations seeking to fill the niche normally occupied by stationary desktop or netbook PCs. The iMM517 WorkStation Pro includes speakers and a mounting stand and is compatible with a Bluetooth keyboard, while the WorkStation iMM737 incorporates a built-in laptop-style keyboard. The Professional WorkStation Portfolio iCK826 combines a tablet case for the iPad and iPad 2 with an incorporated kickstand and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard. These models are compatible with a range of Apple products (including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Nano), while the similar iSK912 and iSK914 are equivalents of the iCK826 for the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 and 8.9 respectively. The iSM527 WorkStation Pro is compatible with both Samsung products as a parallel for the iMM517.

In April 2010 Apple released the iPad to the public, launching the subsequent race to capture this audience with faster, more functional, and shinier tablets. All have failed, with the iPad representing 75% of tablet sales in 2010, with an expected increase to 83% by the end of 2011. On November 15th this year, a challenger will arise, aiming to topple Apple’s reign on the tablet market.

It is the Kindle Fire—the feisty contender coming out on November 15th from Amazon we’re dying to tell you about. But first, some exposition:

We have been drooling over this kind of technology ever since the members of Starfleet started strutting around with their fancy PADDs (Personal Access Display Device, for the Trekkie-challenged). We feebly attempted to reproduce the PADDs with PDAs, beginning with the notable Apple Newton. But, encountering failure, we could only settle with fantasies of glossy handheld screens in the decades to come.

I’d like to preface this review with the admission that I have zero artistic talent and that the best I can do is something a 5 year old manages with crayons. With that out of the way, lets get down to business with the Wacom Bamboo Pen.

Wacom is known for it’s high quality, precision pen tablets like the Intous4 which come with an equally high price tag with the smallest of the bunch weighing in at â‚¬225. The Bamboo line of tablets is Wacom’s way of introducing those who don’t need a pen tablet for work, but would like a little more control over photoshop, hand writing recognition or just want something to digitally sign away their life on. The Bamboo range includes finger touch pads, pen and finger touch pads, as well as a range of pen only tablets in varying sizes and kick off at a retail price of â‚¬50. Certainly a more palatable proposition if you’re just starting out in your tablet using life. Read On

OK, so everyone knows that Apple has a tablet coming, and yes I still hate the name. But Apple isn’t the only player in this fledgling market, and some manufacturers are doing things that are a lot more interesting, hardware wise, than Apple’s proposition. Read On

Like a climatic event with a huge release of information, we finally got what everyone was waiting for since the release of the first iPhone. The Apple Tablet is a reality and they are calling it the “iPad.” It supposedly fits in your lives between an iPhone and a MacBook. Here are all the quick details you need to know about it:

Release Date: 60 days from now worldwide

Price: From $499 ($629 with 3G)

Chip: 1GHz Apple A4 chip (Built of the back of the P.A. Semi purchase)

Memory: 16GB/32GB/64GB

WiFi: 802.11N / Bluetooth+EDR

Cellular Data: Optional 3G (unlocked GSM only)

Keyboard: Touchscreen only like a giant iPhone keyboard

OS: Modified iPhone OS

Screen Size: 9.7″ Multi-Touch ‘IPS’ display

Size/Weight: .5″ thin / 1.5 pounds

Battery Life: 10 hours with a standby time of 1 month! (We’ll see about that)

Has accelerometer and compass (Like the iPhone 3GS)

Has speaker, microphone, 30-pin connector

Accessory docks like the ‘Keyboard Dock’

The Good

It’s just like an iPhone, complete with iPhone “home screen” button, but bigger. Which in turn means that it’ll be really simple to use. The keyboard does look friggin sweet, a touch screen ‘chiclet’ style keyboard. Finally, fat “choddy” fingered people like me will be able to type on a multi touch screen with ease.

It’s available in both WiFi and WiFi + 3G unlocked (GSM). In the US there’s going to be a ‘pre-paid’ option with AT&T for data.

iWork has been updated for the touch screen interface of the iPad meaning you can still get work done on the go if you can handle the virtual keyboard or at a desk using the keyboard dock.

The Bad

The Apple Tablet, iPad, does seems like a great idea. But my dreams of having a touchable desktop experience with Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2 might have gone down the drain when hearing about what OS it is on. Also, no Flash plugins and no multi-tasking just like the iPhone. Will we really need to jailbreak this thing just to make it work like we want it to? Come on!

Accelerometer games are good and all, but how many of you use the Wii wheel or Wiimote to play Mario Kart? Exactly.

No word about Lightpeak or even USB 3.0 at this stage but there is 60 days to go till release, yeah right.

But like our boy Sam has said, “Don’t worry they’ll be another mythical iDevice round to corner to get you salivating, after all wanting is often better than getting.”

The big question now is, if you’ve already got both the iPhone and a MacBook, does one really need an iPad?

So, what do you guys think? Are you already waiting in line to plop down some serious $$$ on it?

Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.

The long rumoured, often talked about date is now official. Apple has sent out invites to the great and the good inviting them to be at an Apple event held on the 27th of January in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10AM PT, that’s 6PM GMT for those of us not in the US. Apple always has taglines for these events and this one is a real rumour fan: ‘Come see our latest creation’. Now I’m always one to look at things with extreme skepticism (one of the virtues of being British), but if that doesn’t scream out Apple Tablet, I don’t know what does.

So browsers at the ready for all you Apple fanboys and iTablet/iSlate fanciers, this one is going to be interesting!

It’s my sad duty to report that the CrunchPad, Michael Arrington’s web browsing tablet has been killed by a fall out between the manufacturing partners and Tech Crunch. As Arrington himself tells it, 2 days before the official launch of the product the manufacturers Fusion Garage, pulled the rug out from under the Tech Crunch team and have apparently decided to make it without them. As Arrington put it so succinctly:

Err, what? This is the equivalent of Foxconn, who build the iPhone, notifying Apple a couple of days before launch that they’d be moving ahead and selling the iPhone directly without any involvement from Apple.

Now, Fusion Garage have yet to have their say but it sounds like the shareholders decided they wanted a bigger slice of the pie. I’m not sure how they’re going to get away with selling a product that they both have IP for, but I’m sure the courts will be involved.

It’s a real shame because whatever you think of Arrington, I know a cheap internet browsing tablet would have been up almost everyone’s streets and I was very much looking forward to it’s launch. So for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for Mr. Arrington and his CrunchPad team, I thought it was a terrific idea.